EU Bullying?

[Galant]

In what is looking to some like a case of EU bullying, a British MEP has been asked to step down from his position as a rapporteur over his unwillingness to rubber stamp some legislation that everyone else wants through. He's refused, and so now, apparently, it'll get escalated to see if he can be removed.

The issue? Spain sought to take advantage of Brexit negotiations to get themselves a legal advantage in their ownership claims over Gibraltar. They did this as part of the visa-free travel arrangements, where the EU is looking to grant visa free travel to the UK (and Gibraltar), but Spain has requested that a footnote is added that would call Gibraltar a colony. If Gibraltar can be appear in legal documentation as a colony then Spain can use that text to advance its agenda to have Gibraltar returned to Spanish control.

This British MEP has apparently called this out as exactly that - an unnecessary political move by one of the EU's members - and has proposed alternate footnote texts which do not include the controversial 'colony' language. All of his proposals have been rejected and pressure was mounting to get him to approve the text. He won't. So he's been asked to step down. He won't. So now they're looking to just remove him.

His argument is this: “I have kept on because there have been very many members who have been supportive, who realise that this is a political situation, with an election in Spain.

“But my position is that if the European parliament submits to this sort of behaviour when there is a national election on, the whole raison d’être of the European parliament is removed. Legislation is supposed to be made on the basis of the legislation.

“This was contingency legislation without a political element. But there has been an opportunistic line taken which has put me in an impossible position. It is an abuse of power.”

And so here you have some very significant legislation, part of the overall negotiations, possibly granting the sort of easy access the UK and EU might want, being held up, because one of its members wants to take advantage of the situation for other means. And instead of the EU telling Spain to back down and leave the process alone, it supports a controversial and divisive move, and it disrespects and arguably bullies someone who holds one of its own positions, in order to do so.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...raltars-status

[Galant]

And he's been removed due to a conflict of interests owing to the fact that he's British.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-claude-moraes

[atemporal]

that's a load of BS. I might write to my MP over that.

[TeePee]

It amazes me that there are still people who believe remaining in the EU is a good idea. If seeing the kind of contempt with which the EU has treated Britain over the last couple of years hasn't changed your mind, I don't know what will.

[Spud1]

It amazes me that there are still people who believe remaining in the EU is a good idea. If seeing the kind of contempt with which the EU has treated Britain over the last couple of years hasn't changed your mind, I don't know what will.

You don't fix a broken system by running away and isolating yourself from your closest neighbours, much better to stay inside and work to change things for the better of everyone. It amazes me that intelligent people actualy want to leave

You also need to keep in mind the bigger picture here in that the UK is not generally "bullied" or "victimised" in general within the EU - at least no more than any other nation, but we are unlikely to read about situations like this in other countries..

There is no need to bring the whole, highly emotional, brexit debate into this thread - there is enough of that going on in the main brexit threads....This is still pretty terrible in terms of how it seems to have gone down mind, and I hope some action is taken to restore order here.

[aidanjt]

You don't fix a broken system by running away and isolating yourself from your closest neighbours, much better to stay inside and work to change things for the better of everyone.

Cameron tried to reform it, remember? They yielded on nothing worth speaking about. Hence the referendum. The place is fundamentally unreformable.

[[GSV]Trig]

And having tried to fix broken system, if you cant, you need to know when to walk away..

The idea of the EU is a good one, but when things get to a certain point you just have to give up and move on, like a bad marriage..

I think we are on the verge of a global political uprising, lots of people have had enough of the politicians lining their own pockets, forgetting who they are working for, cutting public services, yet bailing out the banks, robbing pension pots, giving mates jobs, selling things to private companies that they have ties with and so on, look at the USA, they either vote for yet another politician, or someone, or something else, hence Trump gets in, or the whole Greece thing, they should have dropped out of the EU for not meeting the financial targets, yet look how thats ended up, there are anti government protests and so on all over the place, but you dont see a lot about those do you..

If we do end up having a second referendum, which I think is what the political powers want, in the hope we'll vote the other way this time given enough of a media push, it'll go 2 ways, it wont be as close as it was last time, it'll jump one or the other, hopefully people will see how the EU has treated us over the last few year (and longer if you look at the larger picture) and how incompetent our government are and decide that we need a major change, or people will be fooled into thinking that the EU is good and believe that we'll lose things like workers rights and all of the other things that "EU Rules" bring to the table and that somehow we'll regress to a time where we lived in mud huts..

[peterb]

You don't fix a broken system by running away and isolating yourself from your closest neighbours, much better to stay inside and work to change things for the better of everyone. It amazes me that intelligent people actualy want to leave

You also need to keep in mind the bigger picture here in that the UK is not generally "bullied" or "victimised" in general within the EU - at least no more than any other nation, but we are unlikely to read about situations like this in other countries..

There is no need to bring the whole, highly emotional, brexit debate into this thread - there is enough of that going on in the main brexit threads....This is still pretty terrible in terms of how it seems to have gone down mind, and I hope some action is taken to restore order here.

Except that there seems to be little appetite for reform by the major players in the EU (France and Germany) and one lone voice cannot bring about reform on its own.

Would the U.K. be a focus for reform by other countries are are less happy with the status quo? Possibly, but given our success rate over the last 20 years, I wouldn’t bank on it - although for much of that time we had an appeasing Prime Minister who gave away the U.K. rebate and waived our transition rights on immigration from the Eastern European Nations in the hopes of ingratiating himself with the EU beaurocracy to become the first president of the EU.

And the treatment of Claude Moraes is another demonstration of how the EU ignores the views of its MEPs.

[TooNice]

it wont be as close as it was last time, it'll jump one or the other

I'd be pleased with that, one way or the other (my "hopefully" differs from yours, but I won't get into it in this thread).

Brexiters get to prove to silence remainers for good by proving that they are the clear "will of the people"..

or...

Remainers get to prove that things have changed.. a lot, in just 3 years, to the point that they are not a minority, or a slight majority, but a clear majority.

And I will know how permanently I will stay overseas.

Realistically though, I reckon it would be close (either way). Polls seem to indicate a lead for remains, greater than the referendum results.. but not the kind of margin that I would ideally like, nor enough for me to be confident that the tables have really changed.

[Saracen999]

You don't fix a broken system by running away and isolating yourself from your closest neighbours, much better to stay inside and work to change things for the better of everyone. It amazes me that intelligent people actualy want to leave

You also need to keep in mind the bigger picture here in that the UK is not generally "bullied" or "victimised" in general within the EU - at least no more than any other nation, but we are unlikely to read about situations like this in other countries..

There is no need to bring the whole, highly emotional, brexit debate into this thread - there is enough of that going on in the main brexit threads....This is still pretty terrible in terms of how it seems to have gone down mind, and I hope some action is taken to restore order here.

The problems with that are first, a loaded characterisation as "running away and isolating", when neither are what Brexit achieves, and second, that "staying in" stands any real chance of success.

The fundamental issue at the heart of Brexit is, what actually is the EU, both now and what it is steadily evo,ving into, and does the UK want to be part of it, or outside the firnal structures but still working with the EU as close and friendly neighbours ought to be able to do.

I look at the EU and most certainly don't want to be part of it.

But, "reform ftom within" has failed, decade after decade, because many other countries, or at least their political elites, do want to be part of what it's turning into.

So, we have failed at "reforming" it because many, and certainly too many to overcome, don't want it reformed in the direction we want.

This is not isolationist. It simply acknowledges that they are entitled to want, and keep, the EU in it's current form and evolutionary trajectory, and it would be arrogant of us to patronise them by saying we know better.

So if the EU is going somewhere we don't want, and doesn't want to "reform" in linecwuth our wishes, we either have to stay in to a political union that doesn't suit us, or get out and let them get on with it without us draggng our feet, blocking what we can and generally moaning about it.

It didn't need to be antagonistic, and it certainly isn't running away, let alone isolationist. That is just more rhetoric designed to put down Brexit supporters with offensive terms.

[Galant]

https://www.gbc.gi/news/eu-parliamen...no-deal-brexit

Unity in Europe...sure EU, sure. I'm not sure there was constituency in the entire UK more in support of the UK remaining in the EU than Gibraltar - 96% of which voted to remain. And yet you throw a bone to a corrupt, greedy Spanish government making aggressive claims of sovereignty, and granting them a new legal foothold where there previously was none... just because. Then again, why should anyone be surprised? It was only a referendum in 1967 where Gibraltar voted 99.64% in favour of staying British and rejected a return to Spanish control (with over 73% turnout).

But sure, lend Spain a hand in trying to take what doesn't belong to them. It's not like you could have just changed the non-essential wording of a footnote. Oh wait...

Thanks for the guaranteed, prolonged future problems EU. Thanks very much.